NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department
of DefenseNo. 210-05IMMEDIATE RELEASEMarch 01, 2005Media Contact: Army Public Affairs - (703)
692-2000 Public/Industry Contact: (703)428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the
death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
They died February 26 in Abertha, Iraq, whenan improvised explosive device detonated while
they were on patrol. Both Soldierswere assigned to the Army's 6th Squadron,
8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart,
Georgia.

For further information related to this release,
contact Army Public Affairs at (703) 692-2000.
FALLEN GI'S FINAL WISH

On day of his funeral, Jerseyan slain in Iraq
gains U.S. citizenshipMonday, March 07, 2005BY KASI ADDISON Courtesy of the Star-Ledger

Private First Class Min Soo Choi wanted desperately
to be an American citizen.

Yesterday, the 21-year-old South Korean native
from River Vale received his wish, becoming the first New Jersey soldier
to receive citizenship posthumously since the Iraq war began two years
ago.

"He had only been in this country for a short
while," Senator Frank Lautenberg said during a funeral service attended
by hundreds of people at Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale. "But
we all know you loved America."

Lautenberg, along with River Vale and federal
officials, pushed to get Choi his citizenship after he was killed on February
26, 2005, when a bomb exploded near his patrol in Abertha, Iraq.

"Thank you, Min Soo, and your family for contributing
to the well-being of our nation," the senator said as he handed the certificate
to the soldier's family.

Choi was the 44th service member with ties
to New Jersey killed in Iraq, according to the Defense Department. He will
be buried this afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac
River from Washington, D.C.

There are roughly 30,000 non-American citizens
serving in the military, Lautenberg said. Choi was the 58th immigrant solider
killed in Iraq to be awarded citizenship.

Throughout the well-attended service in the
high school auditorium, people remembered Choi's humor, charisma, kindness,
determination and his pride in serving his country and community.

"We fought for them, he fought for us. We're
a band of brothers," said Korean War veteran George Bruzgis, 72.

Choi lived with his family in Bergen County
for about sevenyears. After graduating from Pascack Valley in 2003, Choi
enrolled at John Jay College of Criminal Justice for one semester before
deciding to enlist in the Army. He was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division,
6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry.

While his family and friends are proud of Choi,
they were initially unhappy with his decision to enter the military during
a time of war. They spoke about their struggle to understand his death
and the nagging question of whether it was in vain.

But while those gathered to honor the soldier
may be struggling with the answer, Choi would not have, said Carlos C.
Huerta, an Army Captain and Chaplain.

"If you had asked Min Soo, he would have given
a resounding 'No, my life was not wasted,'" Huerta said.

Choi's friend, Ji Ha Lee, said when Choi told
a group of friends he was enlisting in the Army, they all began shouting
and asking him why.

"But his decision wasn't made on impulse,"
she said as her voice choked with emotion. "He did not want fear of the
impending war to stop him from achieving what he wanted to in life."

He was always there for others, an optimist
and dreamer who didn't allow things to stand in his way, Lee said.

"You wanted to protect the people and the country
you loved," Lee said to Choi. "And the marks you have left on each and
every one of us is like footsteps on our heart."

Throughout the service, Choi's mother sat in
the front row of the auditorium, her head bent forward and at times resting
on the shoulder of Angela Harris, wife of Lieutenant Colonel Michael J.
Harris, Choi's commander in Iraq.

Harris traveled from her home at Fort Stewart,
Georgia, to be with the Choi family. She said her husband and the rest
of the unit in Iraq took the deaths of Choi and Private Landon Giles "pretty
hard."

"We are here to honor his ultimate sacrifice,
and those who continue to fight a noble cause for his memory," she said
before awarding the family engraved dog tags with a photo of Choi.

Among the honors awarded to the fallen soldier
were a Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, the Good Conduct Medal and the Combat
Infantry Badge. The River Vale Police Department also declared Choi an
honorary police officer and gave his family a badge.

As each plaque, medal and memento of his son
was handed to him, Jong Dae Choi bowed in thanks. Choi's parents do not
speak English.

His sister Mirry did not speak during the service,
but nodded as condolences were whispered in her ears by the various speakers.

Earlier, as her brother's casket was taken
out of the hearse, a grimace crossed Mirry's face briefly. She then glanced
at her mother, who was sobbing, grabbed her hand and then looked at the
flag-draped casket.

Everyone in the family is struggling with Choi's
death, said Maria Oh, a family friend who was present when Army officials
delivered the news to the family.

"They hurt so, so much," she said. "I miss
him so much. He lived very short, but was a good man."

Oh said Choi's death made the deaths of all
the soldiers fighting in Iraq more personal.

"Today I see they died for me," she said. "Not
for the U.S., but for me. Every soldier."

In a somber memorial service with full military
honors, hundreds of people filled a high school auditorium in Hillsdale
on Sunday to honor a young man who gave his life for his adopted country.

Army Private First Class Min Soo Choi, 21,
of River Vale, who was killed February 26, 2005, while on patrol in Abertha,
Iraq, was remembered as a courageous soldier, a caring friend and an American
patriot.

The service at Pascack Valley High School was
a study in quiet dignity and grace, befitting a man several mourners characterized
as an American hero.

A police motorcade preceded a hearse to the
entrance, where friends and family were gathered. As the honor guard slowly
lifted the coffin from the vehicle and marched into the auditorium, one
mourner cried out as others dabbed handkerchiefs to their cheeks.

At the service, some speakers paid tribute
to an ideal: a soldier who wanted to become a police officer or join the
FBI to serve his community and the nation he called home. Others spoke
of a devoted friend whose sudden loss was unfathomable.

"It still seems as if you would appear before
us with a grin and a shoulder to comfort us in our grief," said Ji Ha Lee,
a friend of the family, fighting back tears.

Lee spoke of an optimistic young man who always
thought of others first. She said Choi seemed driven not by ambition but
by duty. And she talked of how proud his friends and family were when he
seemed to grow in maturity each time they saw him after he joined the Army.

"Do not worry and rest assured that we will
do our best to support your family," Lee said. "We know for certain you
are watching over us in heaven."

Another speaker, Bowen Pak, told the audience
that the Choi family moved from Korea to River Vale in 1999. Min Soo Choi
attended Holdrum Middle School and Pascack Valley High. A member of the
high school golf and soccer teams, Choi graduated in 2003. He joined the
Army the following February while attending John Jay College of Criminal
Justice in New York. After completing his training at Fort Benning, Georgia,
Choi was assigned to Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Choi was dispatched to Iraq on January 25,
2005. He died less than a month later, when an explosive device detonated
while he was on patrol, according to the Pentagon.

Throughout the hour-long service, Choi's parents,
Jong Dae and Jae Wha Choi, accepted tokens of gratitude for their son's
sacrifice, bowing in thanks to receive each gift.

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg presented a certificate
granting their son the U.S. citizenship he had dreamed of.

Angela Harris, wife of Michael J. Harris, the
commander of Choi's unit, the 8th Cavalry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry
Division, gave the Chois their son's dog tag with a picture taken the day
he left for Iraq.

"Our hearts go out to you and your family for
the loss of such a fine young man," Harris said. "We honor your son for
the ultimate sacrifice."

Some 1,500 American troops, 36 of them from
New Jersey, have died in the Iraq war.

Choi was the first Korean citizen killed in
action while serving with the U.S. military in Iraq, according to a representative
of the family. A Korean flag was displayed at the memorial service and
Bong Joo Moon, the Korean ambassador to the United States, delivered a
eulogy.

Lautenberg noted that 57 other non-U.S. citizens
have died serving the United States in Iraq.

The senator said that, like the Chois, his
parents had immigrated to America in search of a better life.

"Even though your family has only been in the
country a short time, we know that you loved this country," Lautenberg
said of Min Soo Choi.

Following the service, Choi's parents and younger
sister, Mirry, received hugs and condolences.

Choi will be laid to rest today at Arlington
National Cemetery in Virginia. An anonymous donor from River Vale provided
three buses to shuttle friends, family and media to Arlington for the 1
p.m. burial. The buses will leave from New Florentine Gardens, 97 Rivervale
Road, at 6:45 a.m., following the hearse.

Lee concluded her speech with a heartfelt goodbye.

"Our memories and reminiscences of you will
always live on," the family friend said. "Farewell, our beloved friend,
and may you rest in peace."
Salutes to a fallen soldier

Here are some of the honors bestowed on Private
First Class Min Soo Choi and his family at Sunday's service:

HILLSDALE, NEW JERSEY -A young Korean killed
in Iraq last week was eulogized as an American hero Sunday for enlisting
in the Army and selflessly serving his adopted country.

Army Private First Class Min Soo Choi, 21,
was born in Seoul, South Korea, and had lived with his family in River
Vale for the past seven years. He was killed February 26, 2005, in an explosion
in Abertha, Iraq, a month after he had arrived in the country.

On Sunday, more than 500 people packed Pascack
Valley High School's auditorium for an emotional, hour-long memorial service
attended by Choi's family, members of the military, politicians, high school
friends and members of the Bergen County Korean-American community.

Choi graduated from the school in 2003 and
played soccer and golf there.

A casket carrying Choi's body and draped with
an American flag was brought into the auditorium in a full military procession
as bagpipes played softly in the background.

Inside, a dozen large floral arrangements filled
the stage, many containing sashes containing messages written in Korean.

Choi's parents and sister sat in the front
row, about 10 feet from the coffin as speaker after speaker presented them
with awards, honors and accolades on their son's behalf. His mother and
sister wept softly as his father kept a supportive arm around his wife.

Although he was not yet an American citizen,
Choi had told a neighbor, Donna LoPiccolo, "I'm just proud to serve." Jong
Dae Choi has said his son looked forward to becoming a citizen after completing
his military service.

Lautenberg said 30,000 members of the U.S.
military are not U.S. citizens and that Choi is the 58th non-citizen to
die in Iraq fighting for the U.S.

Because the young soldier had talked of a career
with the River Vale police, the town's mayor, George Paschalis, presented
Choi's sister, Mirry, with an honorary police badge. Choi had attended
John Jay college of Criminal Justice before joining the Army last February.

The family also was given customized dog tags
inscribed with the words, "Fallen but never forgotten."

HILLSDALE, NEW JERSEY — Though he was awarded
his U.S. citizenship posthumously, the 21-year-old River Vale man who was
killed in Iraq was remembered yesterday as an American hero.

Hundreds gathered at Pascack Valley Regional
High School yesterday afternoon to remember Pfc. Min Soo Choi, a U.S. Army
infantry soldier who died February 26, 2005, in Abertha, Iraq, when the
Humvee in which he was patrolling hit an explosive device.

The soldier's father, Jong Dae Choi; his mother,
Jae Wha Choi; and his sister, Mirry, stood stoically outside the high school
as Min Choi's flag-draped casket was removed from the back of a hearse
by an Army honor guard.

But as a bagpipe wailed, Jae Wha Choi slumped,
sagged against her husband and sobbed. Mirry Choi, her eyes fixed on her
brother's casket, also cried.

During the hourlong funeral — the first of
two military services planned — Choi was remembered as a selfless young
man who always wanted to serve America.

"He wanted to protect his adopted country and
he did it so bravely," Sen. Frank Lautenberg said, shortly before conferring
American citizenship upon the South Korean who came to America with his
family about seven years ago.

A second soldier, Private Landon S. Giles,
19, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, also was killed in the explosion.

Ji Ha Lee, a family friend, recalled some of
the reaction to Choi's decision to serve in the military.

"We just shook our heads at what seemed like
reckless behavior," she said. She and others soon changed their minds,
however, when they saw how Choi had matured during his military service,
she said.

"You were a person of big dreams and even bigger
will," she said during the service, urging Choi to accomplish his goals
"in heaven."

An official from the South Korean Consulate
also spoke, as did several local officials.

Rabbi Carlos Huerta, an Army major and West
Point chaplain, said Choi was being mourned by three families: his immediate
one, his local community and his military "band of brothers and sisters."

"There is a pain we feel today, a pain that
no pill can take away," Huerta said.

Huerta added that he believed Choi would not
have thought his life was "wasted," and said those who survived Choi should
continue to fight for the freedom the young man defended so that his death
would not be in vain.

"He knew that all of God's children deserved
a shot at life. ... So Private Min could not, would not, settle for just
his family being safe, his nation being safe, his community being safe,"
Huerta said.

Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney presented
Jae Wha Choi with a Gold Star Mothers Flag, and Army Major General Michael
R. Mazzucchi of the communications-electronics command presented the family
with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

Min Choi, who wanted a career in law enforcement
and was attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City
when he joined the Army, also was made an honorary River Vale police officer
yesterday.

Angela Harris, wife of Lieutenant Colonel Michael
J. Harris, the commander of Choi's 8th Cavalry Regiment, presented Choi's
parents and sister with dog tags bearing an engraved picture of their loved
one on one side and, on the reverse, the words "Fallen But Never Forgotten."

At the end of the service, mourners lined up
inside the auditorium to express condolences to the family. Each person
walked past a picture of a uniformed Min Choi that was placed in front
of American and South Korean flags.

Frank LoPiccolo hugged the Chois, who are his
neighbors.

"It's a sad day," LoPiccolo said after the
service. "I'm hoping that everyone who came here and everybody else in
the country appreciates what Min Soo did. He gave up his life."

Jackie Basralian, who for two years taught
Choi English for nonnative speakers, and Jane Barch, who taught him English,
smiled as they reminisced about their student.

"And we're smiling," she said, "because he
always smiled, and he had a beautiful demeanor, elegant and respectful,
the kind of boy it was a pleasure to have. It's a great loss."

A second funeral service for Choi will be today
at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Taps and tears for a heroTuesday, March 8, 2005 By TOM DAVIS

Major
General Michael Mazzucchi presenting Jae Wha Choi with the flag that draped
the casket of her son, Min Soo Choi.

Min Soo Choi's different worlds came together
Monday.

Standing before Choi's silver casket at Arlington
National Cemetery, a chaplain spoke of duty, honor and sacrifice.

A South Korean minister spoke of salvation
and resurrection for the 21-year-old native son.

Meanwhile, attendees from River Vale, where
the Choi family lives, bowed their heads in respect as many gathered sang
"Rock of Ages" in Korean.

A lone bugler played taps. A boy wearing black
knelt and prayed. Seven soldiers fired three volleys of gunfire. Together,
South Koreans and New Jerseyans wept openly.

"Today, we have come to rest an American patriot,"
said the chaplain, Kenneth Kerr.

Army Private First Class Min Soo Choi arrived
in Iraq in January and was killed by an explosive device a month later.
He was just two years removed from his Pascack Valley High School graduation.

As wind swept through the vast, open greenscape,
where the white marble headstones are in perfect rows, those gathered still
struggled with the tragedy.

But at Arlington National Cemetery - thousands
of miles from South Korea - Choi was, in a way, home. Seven years after
his family immigrated, Choi was a U.S. soldier, laid to rest in America's
most sacred burial ground.

"I said to him before he left, 'You are our
future,'Ÿ" said Jung Choi, the soldier's father.

Choi was buried alongside 290,000 others -
many of them soldiers who, like him, died in a war. Fifty-five are foreign
nationals.

Choi's war was Iraq. More than 1,500 Americans
have died in the two-year-old conflict; 120 are interred at Arlington.
Choi was the 36th who lived in New Jersey, and the first native of South
Korea to die serving America in Iraq. On Monday, he took his place near
President John F. Kennedy, the Tomb of the Unknowns and many other dignitaries.

Like Kennedy, Choi saw the blood and turmoil
of war. During his month in Iraq, he told people how proud he was to be
a U.S. soldier.

In the end, the family buried Choi as an honorary
U.S. citizen, a status he had received a day earlier. He would not have
wanted it any other way, said those who knew him.

"It was an honor chosen for a son who gave
up his life for America," said Jack Carbone, a River Vale attorney who
helped with the arrangements.

Like the other headstones, Choi's will be small,
white and marble, one of a vast field of markers that seem to stretch endlessly.

They are lined in formation, as though the
soldiers are ready to march into battle again.

The first American military service member
in the cemetery's 624 acres was buried on May 13, 1864. Nearly every conflict
is represented.

Before the Sept. 11 attacks, those typically
buried at Arlington were years removed from battle. But the wars to defeat
terrorism and democratize Iraq have changed that.

Many here now are like Choi, who played golf
at Pascack Valley High School just three years ago. They're 19, 20, 21
- barely out of high school. Now they're heroes.

All are honored ceremonially at Arlington under
strict military protocol.

Many officers get full honors. Others who enlisted,
such as Choi, get standard honors.

At Choi's burial, there was no horse-drawn
carriage. But for the family, and for those in River Vale, the ceremony
was no less deep and moving.

From the time the black hearse pulled up at
1 p.m., the mood was solemn and quiet. Barely a word was spoken as the
leaves on the one tree that still had leaves rustled in the wind.

From two buses, some 50 people walked, slowly,
toward the hearse. A man carrying Choi's picture stood in front. Many of
those behind him held long-stem red roses.

Then they removed the American flag and held
it, flat. The flag flapped in the wind.

"We honor our fallen patriots. America's Army
has chosen its finest," said Kerr, the cemetery chaplain.

Then came the Korean sermon, and a hymn.

Speaking in Korean, Harry Hurh, a family friend,
thanked everyone. He ended his speech with "God Bless America."

After the military gave Choi's family their
son's Bronze Star and Purple Heart, those gathered laid the roses on the
casket, then returned to their seats and stared straight ahead.

From the casket, soldiers folded the American
flag into a triangle and gave it to Choi's mother, Jae Wha.

She moved it to her chest, hugged it like a
baby and wept.
Sacrifice of 2 Soldiers Honored at ArlingtonDifferent Paths Led to Service in Iraq

By Leef SmithCourtesy of the Washington Post Staff WriterTuesday, March 8, 2005

One soldier was following family tradition,
joining the Army right out of high school. The other soldier was not a
U.S. citizen, but he wanted to serve his new country after emigrating from
South Korea. He, too, enlisted.

"Today, we come together to lay to rest another
patriot," said Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Kerr, an Army Chaplain, gusts
of wind carrying his words to the mourners seated before Choi's coffin.

Choi, of River Vale, New Jersey, was assigned
to the Army's 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry
Division, based at Fort Stewart, Georgia. He was killed Feb. 26 in Abertha,
Iraq, when an explosive device detonated while he was on patrol in a Humvee.

Also killed in the attack was Private Landon
S. Giles, 19, of Indiana, Pennsylvania.

According to news reports, Choi wanted to become
an Army officer and was looking forward to obtaining his U.S. citizenship.
He was killed less than a month after arriving in Iraq.

Choi's family emigrated from Seoul seven years
ago. After coming to America, Choi spent several years learning English.

"My son said he needed to serve our country,"
Choi's father, Jong Choi, told the Journal News of Westchester County,
New York,

Yesterday, family and friends sang a hymn in
Korean before placing dozens of long-stemmed red roses at his grave.

An hour later, Choi's grave and the blanket
of flowers adorning it would become the backdrop for Gresham's graveside
memorial.

Gresham, of Lincoln, Illinois, was assigned
to the 797th Ordnance Company (explosive ordinance disposal), 79th Ordnance
Battalion, 52nd Ordinance, Fort Sam Houston, Tex. He was killed February
24, 2005, at Camp Wilson, Iraq, when an explosive device detonated while
he was responding to another blast.

"There are 150,000 kids over there," Gresham's
father, Gene Gresham, told the Pantagraph newspaper in Bloomington, Illinois,
shortly after learning of his son's death. "Twelve hundred of them have
died. Who would have guessed one of them would be mine?"

Gene Gresham told the Pantagraph it was a family
tradition to do a tour of duty with the Army. He said the last family member
killed in action was an uncle who died in World War I.

His son's loss, he said, was a devastation.
"I haven't stopped crying since I heard it," he said.

Gresham's funeral was held under warm, blue
skies and was attended by dozens of friends and relatives who wept as taps
whispered through the leafless trees.

Also attending the service was Major General
Antonio M. Taguba, who wrote a report detailing the alleged abuse of Iraqi
prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

Yesterday, Choi and Gresham were posthumously
awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

They were the 120th and 121st service members
killed in Iraqi Freedom to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The
total number of U.S. military personnel killed in the Iraq war as of yesterday
morning was 1,499, including four civilian Defense Department employees.
Immigrant Serving in Iraq Falls Before Realizing Ultimate
Goal Grace E. JangCourtesy of the KoreAm Journal, August 28, 2005

He was the guy with the “big, beautiful, gracious
smile.” His calm, mature demeanor put those around him at ease. Just being
around him made you feel safe, say those who knew Min Soo Choi.

Mostly, people remember that Min Soo loved
his sister. He took his role as big brother seriously. Before leaving for
Iraq with the U.S. Army in January, Min Soo visited his old high school,
where Mirry was in her senior year, and asked his guidance counselor for
a favor. Take care of my baby sister, he said.

The bond between Min Soo and Mirry was “immeasurable,”
said Vincent Paolini, the counselor at Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale,
New Jersey.

A month after Min Soo was deployed, he and
another soldier — both with the 8th Cavalry of the 3rd Infantry’s 6th Squadron
— were killed Feb. 26 while on patrol in Abertha, 20 miles from Baghdad,
according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Defense.

He was 21.

Min Soo went overseas in pursuit of a dream
— a job as a Federal Bureau of Investigations agent. The 2003 Pascack Valley
High graduate had barely finished his first semester at John Jay College
in New York, where he was studying criminology, when he decided to enlist.

The U.S. Army, Choi believed, would be a one-way
ticket to obtaining American citizenship, a prerequisite for any law enforcement
position. But by the time he was deployed, joining the military was more
than just a means to an end.

“He was just very proud to serve his country,”
said Jacqueline Basralian, Min Soo’s former teacher.

The U.S. government posthumously awarded him
citizenship during a March 6 memorial service held at his alma mater. The
58th immigrant soldier killed in Iraq to be granted citizenship, Min Soo
was later buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Hundreds, including federal officials and international
dignitaries, attended the service in Hillsdale.

“He had only been in this country for a short
while, but we all know you loved America,” said New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg,
as he handed the naturalization certificate to the fallen soldier’s family.
“Thank you, Min Soo, and your family, for contributing to the well-being
of our nation.”

Min Soo was awarded a Purple Heart, a Bronze
Star, a Good Conduct Medal and a Combat Infantry Badge. The River Vale
Police Department declared him an honorary police officer and gave his
family a badge, according to published reports.

In eulogies, Min Soo’s friends recounted that
they tried to talk him out of his decision to join the military. But he
was resolute.

“I saw his sister in the hallway one day in
the fall, and I asked her, ‘How’s Min Soo?’” Basralian recalled. “She said,
‘He’s in the Army now, and he’ll be going to Iraq soon.’ I just looked
stunned and asked, ‘How do your parents feel about that?’ She said, ‘Well,
it’s his decision.’ It was something he felt he had to do.”

Min Soo had thought long and hard about enlisting.

“His decision wasn’t made on impulse,” said
Ji Ha Lee in a eulogy. “He did not want fear of the impending war to stop
him from achieving what he wanted to in life.”

Joining the military was, among the mostly
white, upper-middle class, New Jersey suburb, an unusual choice. Pascack
Valley High graduates almost invariably went on to prestigious four-year
colleges, Basralian said.

“He had a sense of maturity about him,” she
said. “A very calm demeanor. You always felt very reassured when you were
in his presence. Because of that manner, I think he would have done well
[in law enforcement].”

To honor the graduate who chose the road less
traveled, the high school newspaper printed a memorial edition celebrating
Min Soo’s life. Featured in the special issue of The Smoke Signal are essays
by former teachers, counselors and friends about the kid who, having immigrated
to the United States in middle school, barely knew English but eventually
graduated from the advanced English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.

He was “popular in a quiet way,” said Basralian,
who teaches ESL. “He came to me in the ninth grade when he spoke very little
English. I had the pleasure of watching him develop and flourish, and he
did so with good humor. He always had the most respectful demeanor. He
was a fun student to have in class. Delightful. Hardworking. And as he
learned more English, you realized he had an impish sense of humor.”

The memorial edition also featured Mirry’s
college-entrance essay, in which she wrote about her brother.

“Mirry was just so attached to him,” Basralian
said. “He was a really loving big brother. Just a lovely, very fine family.”

Also featured in the special issue, she said,
are photos of Choi in various sports. Choi was, in true Korean fashion,
a member of the school’s golf and soccer teams.

Choi, ever an optimistic dreamer who put others
first, is surely “watching over us in heaven,” Lee eulogized. “You wanted
to protect the people and the country you loved. And the marks you have
left on each and every one of us is like footsteps on our heart.”

An
Honor guard carry the coffin containing the remains of Army Pfc. Min Soo
Choi, during a funeral ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery, Monday,
March 7, 2005

Pallbearers
carry the coffin containing the remains of Army Pfc. Min Soo Choi, during
a funeral ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, March 7,
2005,

Mother
of Army Pfc. Min Soo Choi, Jae D. Choi, second left, and father Jong Choi,
third left, weep as the Taps is played during a funeral ceremony at the
Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, March 7, 2005,

Mother
of Army Pfc. Min Soo Choi, Jae D. Choi, center, weeps as she is presented
with the U.S. flag that draped her son's coffin, by Maj. Gen. Michael Mazzucchi,
left, during a funeral ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery